Car crash on the Sagamore Bridge snarls holiday traffic

By Michaela Stanelun, Globe Correspondent, and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

A car crash on the Sagamore Bridge, a major portal for holidaymakers to Cape Cod, closed the bridge to traffic in both directions this afternoon, causing a traffic backup that snaked up Route 3 for 15 miles.

Lieutenant David Wilson, a State Police spokesman, said the crash happened around 2:25 p.m. and the bridge was reopened around 3:35 p.m. Tow trucks are at the scene, and injuries were reported but the severity was unknown, he said.

Matt Smialek, a traffic information manager at SmartRoutes, said that the backups stretched for 15 miles on Route 3 South heading toward the Cape.

Smialek said backups weren't that bad on Route 3 North heading off the Cape, because the traffic was heaviest heading south.

"The traffic was already heavily backed up and this made it so much worse," he said.